Each coupon gives a consumer a $40 rebate on the price of a digital converter box, bringing the cost down to just a few dollars. If you have an older analog TV, watch broadcast TV via an antenna, and don’t want to switch to cable or satellite, you’ll need a box to continue seeing television after June 12th. That’s the amended date when the old analog broadcasting system will be shut off forever.

The government has also amended several of the original rules that determine how coupons would be distributed.

Until now, coupons not redeemed within 90 days expired, and no replacements were issued. Those who held expired coupons and needed one were absurdly told to scrounge some up from their friends and relatives. That ridiculous rule has now changed: If requested, the NTIA will send a replacement coupon for each that has expired.

The agency was also faulted for the snail’s pace at which coupons arrived. Now, new coupons will be sent via first class, rather than bulk mail rates, and should arrive within nine days of requesting them.

According to a spokesman with the agency, the no-replacement-after-expiration rule was not of its own doing, but rather an interpretation of the original bill passed by Congress, which stipulated that no more than two coupons should be sent to any one household.

The recent act that changed the analog cutoff date from February to June changed the wording to read that no more than two coupons per household could be redeemed.

All of this is spelled out on the agency’s digital converter box coupon program Web site. The only problem, according to the agency, is that most people who need coupons probably don’t have Web access.

“Now, new coupons will be sent via first class, rather than bulk mail rates, and should arrive within nine days of requesting them.”

I ordered a certificate this afternoon. The site, and my printed confirmation state that the certificate will be issued April 10. That is 16 days by my calculations. Add mail time and you’re talking aboutan extra 10 days or so.

Is anyone actually going to make a converter box with DVR, for recording, like some were talking about?

I’m also curious why no one has been talking about:

1.) Why we have to pay for this at all, as they are our airwaves? The myth that it is just a few dollars is just that. The boxes were routinely $65 and up, we paid a premium, and alongside this,
2.) Why is no one writing about the HUGE windfall it has been for Radio Shack and other electronics stores? Once again, the consumer has borne the burden of paying for something we already own.

I never understood why the government didn’t just make the converter boxes available for free. Because with the buying power of the U.S. government, there is no reason why we couldn’t have a nicely featured converter box with remote that would cost less than $40 to make and distribute. And Radio Shack and CVS and all those other stores on the list could still have made money on the deal because the government could have used them for the distribution, paying them a nominal handling fee (and those companies would still love it because it would generate all that extra traffic through the stores). But, instead, we are left with $40 coupons to buy $65 converters that probably cost less than $5 to make and ship. Excellent way to waste our tax dollars.

And still we will have an enormous number of people who won’t have television on June 12th. Particularly older people.

#2 – The airwaves are a public good. Seeing/hearing what is broadcast on them has never been free. When TV signals were first broadcast, nobody whined about having to shell out money for a TV, just like nobody whined about buying a radio before that.

We’re the only country that deemed it necessary to subsidize the change-over, so we should be glad we’re getting them at all. Also, they are really nice to have, and really are way better than what we’ve got right now.

This whole thing has been stupid from the outset. Who decided that coupons expire in 90 days, anyway?? When I got mine last year, no store my SoCal area had anything to buy. I had to do some online research to find a mail-order outfit which had some good units in stock. With an antenna splitter, did a shootout on KCET, channel 28. Weak signal and a little snow, DTV is perfect. More snow and suddenly DTV goes bonkers, with ribbons of color and stuttering sound. They call this the digital cliff, its all or nothing. BOO-HISS. — The whole charade about freeing up valuable spectrum for public service is a scam, it actually allows for a form of long-range Wi-fi service called Wi-max.

#1: You just ordered a coupon now? What were you doing in January when the analog shut down was scheduled for Feb 19? You’re complaining about the NTIA and USPS taking a couple of days more while you have procrastinated for months and months? Take some responsibility!

#2: Regarding the DVR, what you are asking for is a DVR with a built in, over the air TV tuner. I am on my third Tivo and I don’t believe they have ever been made with over the air tuners – digital or analog…but a good idea! I am looking forward to the DVR built into my TV monitor so I can record anything from any source at the place it matters most…where I can see it.

Regarding the cost of the airwaves, you make a good point. As you know, the FCC has already auctioned recovered TV channels for some $30 billion. (Considering the multi trillion bank sector meltdown, that now seems quaint, but it is what it is). At least a billion has been used to subsidize the coupon program. The local broadcast licensees have spent a couple of billion just to be able to continue to provide their free-to-viewer, ad-supported programming (for which many cable subscribers pay $30/MONTH for the most basic tier). And you have to buy a TV to watch. So I’m not sure why all the indignation of a one-time $25 or 30 extra cost (after coupon) for a convertor? It’s a a week’s worth of lattes for thousands of hours of free entertainment. Now that we can get a great quality picture over-the-air for FREE, many people struggling to make ends meet can cancel cable. What’s the gripe? It seems like pretty great value to me.

Finally, as to the “windfall” profits of the electronics stores? Can you say “Circuit City?” These guys didn’t make a windfall on these boxes, but I do hope they got some profit for their efforts. Although there is a school of thought that argues the availability of the coupons simply increased the price (not cost) of the boxes about…$40. So either way, the box costs $25.

Of course with the digital converter comes another remote — one you must use to change the channel once your television receives its signal through this converter box. Beware cheap remotes (mine is from Wal-Mart) which I never thought to open and check the design ergonomics — after all, hasn’t there been enough clamor to yield large, intelligently placed and sized remote buttons?

Apparently not! I ended up with a remote for the digital converter whose channel buttons are slivers and whose menu functions are less than ideal.

Speaking of ideal, a universal remote whose functionality included digital converters would be nice ….

Until then, look for large and quickly ‘findable’ channel buttons and options such as still picture as its own button, followed by another button to toggle between sizing of the picture (bandbox vs standard).

There are converter boxes with a DVR function built-in, but they run in excess of $200 and do not qualify for the government subsidy for whatever reason.

I will say that once people realize you can receive in excess of 60 channels over-the-air (in metro areas) in digital quality that’s actually better than cable & satellite (since their compression technology is awful), look out.

Paying $50-100/month to watch programming with commercials is absurd.

Please tell your neighbor to get with the program.
DTV is a very good thing.

There is or was to be a DVR meant just for recording OTA television. It was made by Dish Network-Echostar and the model was the TR-50. It touted two tuners with the ability to record 2 shows at the same time while watching something you’d previously recorded. It was introduced at the 2008 CES along with Echostar’s TR-40, now called the DTV-Pal. The DTV-Pal is obviously available but to my knowledge, the TR-50 never made it to production. There was even a short video done by I believe, Cnet from the 2008 CES, showing all the features of the TR-50. A few months ago, I emailed Dish Network asking about the status of the TR-50 but they never replied.

Oh well, guess I’ll just continue taping the wife’s primetime shows on good-old VHS tapes, which are still available at Sam’s Club at a reasonable price for a package of 8. And, with my attic antenna connected to 3 Zenith digital boxes that are connected to 3 vcr’s, I am able to tape 3 shows at the same time. Not bad for an analog-DVR solution.

And on a side note, if anyone has those giant universal remote controls, you can program the “Sat” button to control the Zenith DTT-901 digital box. It’s code number (212) and it does every function the original remote does except for the ability to check the signal strength.

Yes there have been over-the-air, non-TIVO, non-subscription, DVRs. A few years ago most of the electronics manufacturers were making DVD recorders with hard drives. I have two Panasonics that I love. However, they have analogue tuners and will soon work only with a converter and I will lose the ability to time shift from more than one channel. I assume that I will also lose the over the air TV Guide listings and the over the air automatic clock setting. Although these machines are being produced overseas no one is currently marketing them in the US. There seems to be an erroneous assumption that anyone who isn’t shelling out money every month for cable isn’t interested enough to want one of these machines. Also, they don’t really want us to be able to record and time shift unless they can control it and make a continuing profit from it as they do with the TIVO and cable based DVRs.

A good old analog Tivo box will work with either cable service or an antenna, with or without a digital-to-analog box interposed (though of course the box will soon be required). It accepts analog input from a 75 ohm coaxial cable, used both by “cable TV” and by antennas, and I assume by the new boxes.

Steve, typing TR-50 into Google and pressing Enter yields 243 million articles, so you don’t have to wait for Dish to answer your inquiry.

I haven’t seen the output from a converter, but I doubt it would be very impressive. I got a hi-def TV about a month ago, and the improvement in quality is breathtaking! A digital 1080 line image is razor sharp and really a different experience from a fuzzy 480 line analog one. It’s hard to imagine degrading that magnificent, crisp, movie-theater picture down to the familiar fuzz, subsidy or no.

Regarding so much content over the air that we can cancel cable, though, I think networks like HBO and AMC, A&E, CNN, etc. will still only be available only over cable and satellite. I haven’t heard of them going over the air. Forty channels sounds impressive, but 30 are shopping, infomercials, foreign language, and exotic, energetic religious services, and the other ten are just the familiar local broadcast stations, some with second and third feeds.

I work with low income people and only half have been able to get their converter so far.

Many waited the 90 days because the extra $15 was difficult to come up with. Many have been declared ineligible to receive the coupons and denied. Low income people move around a lot and in many cases one tries to order the coupon from an address where the previous tennant already ordered his coupon. Many live in group facilities and are denied.

We have been asking cable and satillite subscribers to order their two coupons and donate them to low income programs for distribution. I still know many people who will have no tv when the switch is complete.

I live 60 miles from any signal and have been using a rooftop antenna with no problem for decades. My new converter can only pick up one channel and it drops the signal regularly. I can’t afford hundreds of dollars to buy a new antenna and hire someone to install it. This is so unfair!

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Gadgetwise is a blog about everything related to buying and using tech products. From figuring out which gadget to buy and how to get the best deal on it to configuring it once it’s out of the box, Gadgetwise offers a mix of information, analysis and opinion to help you get the most out of your personal tech.